Former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor is confident that Brendan Rodgers won’t make the same mistakes in the transfer market as Tottenham Hotspur did following the £85million sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid last summer.

Tottenham spent £105million in the run up to the 2013/14 campaign, as the club tried to replace Bale’s influence in the lineup, with all seven big-name additions coming from abroad.

However, the likes of Paulinho, Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli and Roberto Soldado struggled to adapt to English football last season, and Mellor believes the Liverpool manager is wise to look more to proven Premier League commodities when spending the £75million received from Barcelona for talisman Luis Suarez.

‘I think Spurs’ problem was buying players who hadn’t yet adapted to England. They spent so much money on players who weren’t experienced on the Premier League level,’ he told Sky Sports News Radio.

‘We’ve seen Liverpool bringing in Adam Lallana, an exciting talent who’s proven in the Premier League, and it’s vital that the club spend a good proportion of it [the Suarez funds] on those players who’ve played and proven themselves on that level.

‘[Lazar] Markovic is promising but also a bit unknown, so it’s important that the money is used on proven quality from the Premier League. That’s where I think Spurs came unstuck, spending so much on players from outside of England. It’s difficult for them to adjust.’

With Liverpool looking to bolster their squad following Suarez’s departure, close to £60million of the cash windfall has been spent so far on Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Emre Can and Lazar Markovic, as the club looks to mount another title challenge following last season’s second place finish.

In addition, Loic Remy, Dejan Lovren and Divock Origi are all reportedly close to joining, with the trio expected to cost around £40million in total, while also filling the squad with two more proven Premier League standouts.

Having narrowly missed out on the title to Manchester City, it remains to be seen whether those signings will be able to replace Suarez’s influence, after his 31-goal 2013-14 season, but Rodgers appears to be leaving no stone un-turned in his attempts to strengthen all areas of the squad.

Freddie Shires

Freddie is a freelance sports writer, having recently completed an MA in Sports Journalism at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham. With an especially keen interest in all things American sports-related, he has written extensively about the NFL, MLS and the U.S. national team for various sites.